How to Change Your Life

What we read impacts how we think, feel and what we do.

Over the years, we have read numerous books to help with all sorts of issues and improve our lives.

Here is a list of 23 books we feel will help you regarding finance and business, psychology and self-help, relationships and lastly, life in general.

If you don’t have the budget to buy books, check your local library.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Finance Books

Since this is a finance site, we are starting with the business and finance books that changed our life.

Some of the books in this list we read as teenagers, and they shaped how we manage money.

1. The Richest Man in Babylon

Being raised in a religious home, we read The Richest Man in Babylon at 13 and it was an easy read because of the constant Bible study growing up.

That said, it might not appeal to everyone but it is a good read.

The basic principles in it will set you up for life and are the basis for most finance books.

Pay yourself first and treat it the same as any other bill. Invest.

Be wise with your money. Spend less than you earn etc.

It’s a thin book with a simple story that shows how your choices and applying these simple principles can really impact your future.

2. The Psychology of Money

If you want to learn about why you do what you do with money and how to change that, The Psychology of Money is essential reading.

The statistics, stories and advice all helped us understand ourselves and our relationships with money.

Another interesting life change because of this book was understanding other people in my life better.

3. Budget Books: Money with Jess and The Barefoot Investor

These books are listed together as they have a similar focus but appeal to slightly different audiences.

Money With Jess and The Barefoot Investor both show budgeting plans, tips to save money etc.

Both are great for learning how to budget and about money basics.

Money With Jess is more visual and outlines each budget area of your life, how to plan for it and how to save money in those areas.

It is colour coded and extremely relatable.

The Barefoot Investor has a 3 bucket system and is an easy way for people with no idea about money to get started.

1. Set a monthly date night
2. Set up your buckets (based on his serviette strategy for a budget. These are separate bank accounts for different things).
3. Domino your debts
4. Buy your home
5. Increase your super to 15%
6. Boost your Mojo to 3 months (your Mojo is your emergency savings account which you set up during the first few date nights)
7. Get the banker off your back (clear your mortgage)
8. Nail your retirement number (you don’t need $1,000,000 to retire!)
9. Leave a legacy

So as you can see, there are similarities, but also key differences.

Both are Australian and a good way to get on top of your finances.

If you are great with money (especially credit cards) there are ways to accrue points and make your money go further, which goes against the ideas in these books.

When it comes to the superannuation, banks and other specific accounts or brands he mentions, remember they are just examples!

Do your own research to find the right product for you or get professional, personalised advice.

4. Your Money or Your Life and Die With Zero

Another double-up but similar books in terms of what they cover.

Life is for living.

Yes, we all need to plan for the future, retirement and be smart with money but that isn’t all life is for.

We need to enjoy and live life in the meantime too.

Otherwise, you will get to the end of your life, look back and have wasted it all. Your Money or Your Life and Die With Zero both cover this well and will make you think.

5. Unleash Your Inner Money Babe

We love a challenge and the idea of creating $1,000 in 21 days is appealing.

If you enjoy manifesting/the Law of Attraction and similar, you will love Unleash Your Inner Money Babe.

Each day has a theme with an activity to do to improve your money mindset and bring in an extra $1,000 within the 21 days.

It’s not only thinking about things, it is about taking action.

This book doesn’t focus on your income, as there are so many ways money can come to you.

6. Lucky Bitch

Aussie Money Mindset extraordinaire, Denise Duffield-Thomas, wrote Lucky Bitch, a must-read to change how you are with money.

Clear your money blocks, learn more about yourself and your relationship with money, why you do things the way you do and prepare to make more money.

While it might seem a bit ‘woo woo’ to some, it’s worth reading and doing the exercises.

You can check out Denise’s site for more resources too including the money archetypes and business tips.

7. We Should All Be Millionaires

This book is gold. We loved the statistics on women and women of colour regarding finances and business.

We did the $10,000 challenge in We Should All Be Millionaires and it was interesting how it worked out.

Doing the exercises in this book will help you a lot in all areas of your life.

Rachel has a great podcast that includes some of the book chapters too.

Check out this review of We Should All Be Millionaires. It really is a game-changer.

8. Profit First

Every business owner needs to read and implement this system.

If you want profit but never seem to have the actual cash at the end of the month or financial year, Profit First will show you how to change that.

Money in business is difficult for many business owners.

Often they are great at their work and hopeless with the books or don’t know where to start.

Implementing and easy system will see you have more profit and improve.

Your business cannot survive if you don’t have a profit and manage the money properly.

9. Nomad Capitalist

Nomad Capitalist is a fascinating read about how you really can save money like “big companies” but taking advantage of international options.

Instead of complaining about ‘the rich’ dodging taxes or cheating or anything along those lines, you can learn principles you can apply as well that are legal.

Yes, plenty of people do dodgy things but there are ways to reduce your tax and other expenses legally.

Psychology and Self-Help Books

Books that give tips to improve your life in general or discuss psychology have appealed to us for years.

Given their popularity worldwide, it is something everyone seeks out. Here are our favourites.

10. The Big Leap

The Big Leap was repeatedly recommended, but because of the plain cover, we didn’t read it for years.

The cover seemed so plain, the book so thin, how could it possibly help?

It changed how we viewed everything and we see clearly why it is recommended.

Too often, we self-sabotage the good things in our life. 

The Big Leap isn’t a finance book but will impact your finances.

When you look at your life, you will begin to notice patterns.

Things will be going great, then all of a sudden, it comes crashing down.

Often, this is because we feel unworthy or as if we don’t deserve all the good things.

Why shouldn’t life be easier?

You do deserve a good life and this book helps you crack the negativity and sets you up to accept success, achieve more and have an easier life.

It’s so simple to read, yet profound. Learn more about yourself, how you self-sabotage and stop it!

11. What Happened To You?

What Happened To You by Dr Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey changes the conversation around trauma.

For helping to understand others and ourselves, this book is a must-read for everyone.

It was eye-opening how trauma impacts us all, our reactions, triggers and how to help.

The stories in it are so moving and validating.

It is highly recommended by everyone who reads it because it really does change every aspect of your life.

12. Unf*ck Yourself

Get out of your own way! How often are we so caught up in our own thoughts that we talk ourselves out of something?

The mantra “I am willing” from this book and everything he said about it was the kick up the butt I needed to commit to working out, taking care of myself and focusing on the things I want in my life.

We love the Audible version of Unf*ck Yourself.

There is something about the Scottish accent that made this book even more powerful than others when listened to.

13. What You Feel You Can Heal

Easy to read and apply, What You Feel You Can Heal is similar to having a therapist in book form. Do the activities and work to see real changes in your life.

Published in 1995, it is not easy to get except on Audible.

Each chapter is easy to read and apply.

When we start to understand ourselves better, we can heal from the things in our lives keeping us stuck.

We can also understand others better and improve all our relationships.

14. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has been a popular book for years.

Going through the exercises in the book and applying them has seen many people adjust their habits, get better careers, move homes and live a life they want.

The 7 habits are

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin With The End In Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen The Saw

Relationship Books

How we relate to others and the relationships we have in our lives will impact every part of it.

Who we choose as a romantic partner, the people we work with, friends, colleagues, all of them.

The more we know about human behaviour and relationships, the easier love, work, family and life will be.

15. The 5 Love Languages

Note: When this list was written, we were unaware about how the lovel languages are connected to childhood trauma.

If you know your love language, you will have a pretty good idea of the type of traumas you need to heal.

Learning about your love language and the language of those around you will change your interactions.

We don’t all accept, understand, give or receive love the same way. The 5 Love Lanaguages outlines the languages as well as how to give and receive love, examples of each language and tips for life in general.

You can use the tips in the book for work situations, family, your love life, anything interactions with people really.

16. The New Rules

Normally, we avoid “TikTok sensations” or anything along those lines, however, we were completely unaware of her status before reading it.

Margarita Nazarenko tells it like it is when it comes to women and relationships – and women’s relationships with themselves.

A qualified life coach, YouTuber and TikTok sensation, Margarita advises women not only about how to navigate relationships with men, but how to create wonderful lives with or without a relationship.

Get your copy of The New Rules: The Ultimate Guide to Being Her. Confidence. Dating. Relationships.

17. Women Who Love Too Much

Too many women give everything and more, get disrespected and hurt. Women who Love Too Much is essential for all women but especially women with bad patterns in relationships.

Women tend to give a whole lot more, get used and left feeling burnt out, abused and hurt. You can break that pattern.

18. Mindful Pregnancy

Mindful Pregnancy covers every stage of pregnancy and birth, from health tips through to mindset.

Exercises you can do, massage that will help, things to eat, meditation etc.

It’s a holistic view of this incredible stage of life.

A must read if you are or are planning to get pregnant.

Life Books

There are so many parts of our life that it’s hard to decide what to focus on sometimes.

This section covers health, habits, admin and similar aspects of life.

19. Life Admin Hacks

This was a recent read and fantastic for organising our home life.

All those admin tasks that end up dumped on the mum usually and increasing our mental load can be simplified.

Life Admin Hacks covers all over it so easily.

By implementing the tips, some of which we already did but found out how to do better, much of my mental load was reduced.

The household ran smoother, nothing was missed and there was a lot less back and forth/messaging/questions etc as it is all laid out easy for everyone to see.

Using things such as a digital family calendar and working out what we can streamline has been fantastic.

20. Atomic Habits

Your habits will determine your life. With Atomic Habits, you learn the power of small changes, how to make those changes, how to habit stack and how effective it is and so on.

Our habits are truly amazing in that whether we have good or bad ones, they compound and grow.

You might not notice the changes at first but each day we are either moving towards or away from our goals.

If you can get even 1% better or do 1% towards a goal every day, you will improve.

Through the power of compounding, 1% better every day sees huge results over time.

Plus 1% isn’t so big a change it is overwhelming.

Take money as an example. Start saving 1% now, then increase it to 2% in a month or two, increase it again when you feel comfortable with the 2% and soon enough you will be saving 10% without much adjustments.

If you are putting away that 1% first, not touching it and learning to live without it, you’ll adapt quickly to that small change. Increase it and again, the change is minimal so the adaption is easy.

Trying to save 10% immediately when you save nothing now will feel like a bigger sacrifice and be harder to stick to.

Small changes make a big impact if you stick to them.

21. You Can Heal Your Life

Another mindset book recommended by numerous readers, You Can Heal Your Life can help you heal.

It is fascinating how different health issues are linked to different mental struggles.

The correlation between our mental health and physical health hasn’t been studied enough but more is coming out now about it.

It is fascinating to learn about and there are various research papers and documetaries on it.

22. Not Just Lucky

Women constantly downplay their achievements as luck.

Despite how hard we worked to get to where we are, we can find it difficult to claim it or take compliments.

Not Just Lucky will crack that wide open and help you see the world and yourself differently.

Do yourself a favour, read this book and share it with every woman you know.

Change the future for our kids.

23. The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture will make you think differently.

We want to think we’ll live forever, but we won’t.

The Last Lecture is a wonderful collection of his life stories with lessons for all of us.

Professors are often asked to give a ‘last lecture’ at universities. For Randy, it really was his last lecture.

Which Book Changed Your Life?

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